US revamps FAA aiming to improve safety oversight

By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON, Jan 26 (Reuters) – The Trump administration said on Monday it is restructuring the Federal Aviation Administration and will create a new safety oversight office to consolidate functions across five different units.

The move comes a day before the National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday is set to criticize the FAA’s failure to act on near-miss incidents at a hearing to determine the probable cause of the January 2025 collision between an Army helicopter and American Airlines passenger jet that killed 67 people near Reagan Washington National Airport. 

The FAA said the new aviation safety office was part of a strategic plan to improve hiring and training and identify potential hazards. The overhaul will not result in reductions in force, it said.

Lawmakers from both parties have questioned why the FAA failed to act for years to address close calls involving helicopters near Reagan airport before the fatal collision.

The NTSB said last year that since 2021, there were more than 15,000 incidents near Reagan between commercial airplanes and helicopters with lateral separation distance of less than 1 nautical mile (1.85 km) and vertical separation of less than 400 feet (122 m), including 85 close-call incidents during that period.

NTSB Chair Jennifer Homendy said in August the FAA had ignored warnings about serious safety issues.

As part of the restructuring, the FAA is creating a safety management system and implementing an FAA-wide safety risk management process.

FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford, who took office in July, is overseeing a $12.5 billion rehabilitation of U.S. air traffic control, and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy wants another $19 billion to complete the job.

The FAA in early May barred the Army from helicopter flights around the Pentagon after a May 1 close call that forced two civilian planes to abort landings.

The FAA is also in the process of moving its headquarters into the main Transportation Department office in Washington.      

(Reporting by David Shepardson in Washington; Editing by Sonali Paul)